It was a pleasant surprise to see the warm reception of Australian citizens on the streets of Brisbane, Russian President Vladimir Putin said

MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. Australia created the most comfortable conditions for the G20 summit in Brisbane, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a forum of the All-Russia People’s Front on Tuesday.

“I know the way it was covered in the media, I heard the echo. I’ve seen statements by my Australian counterpart (Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott). I would like to say that in practice there had been nothing of the sort. The Australian partners created a very friendly environment for work. Cordial, I should say, and very good for the search for solutions to the problems the world economy faces,” Putin said.

He remarked that it was a pleasant surprise for him to see the warm reception of Australian citizens on the streets of Brisbane. “I can find no explanation for this, but it was really so. There was much applause and other friendly gestures. There were crowds of ordinary people on the streets, and I am very grateful to them,” Putin said.

As he dwelt on comments made by his Australian counterpart, Putin did not rule out that there might have been “an attempt to fan tensions.”

“In real life and work, there was nothing of the sort. We had very constructive discussions of not only the topics that had brought us together, but some very grave issues involving the Malaysian Boeing (that has crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17). We discussed that in every detail. May I assure you, that everything had been decent and rather friendly,” Putin said.